Sermon Tone Analysis

Anything for an Hour

Some friends of ours we married for 20, had 5 kids, 2 bio kids and 3 adopted, multi-racial.

He was former Navy submariner and worked at the nuclear power plant.

He traveled a lot w/ his work.

When he was home, everything looked and sounded fine.

Some friends of ours we married for 20, had 5 kids, 2 bio kids and 3 adopted, multi-racial.

He was former Navy submariner and worked at the nuclear power plant.

He traveled a lot w/ his work.

When he was home, everything looked and sounded fine.

On the surface they looked like the kind of family you’d put on the church publicity brochure or web page.

Perfect.

But, under the facade there was rot.

The wife found out the last 2 years of their marriage he had been having an affair w/ a woman half his age; he was 40 she was 19 or 20.

She had no idea.

He was a good liar.

When he was first found out he tried everything he could to make things right at home while he was there.

He did things, bought things, fixed things like he never had before.

But, it never was enough.

He couldn’t write a check big enough to make up for the unfaithful, unloving, disobedient double life he’d been living.

Their marriage is ending and he’s planning on marrying his young mistress.

As appalled as we might be at his behavior, many Christians live this kind of live w/ God.

On Sunday we clean up, engage, serve, write a big check for the offering, pray deep prayers, and carry a tattered bible.

We look like and sound like we all in.

We’re pretty good liars.

But the rest of the week we have mistresses.

We can be just about anything for an hour/week.

What about the rest of the time?

Don’t get me wrong, being here on Sunday is a priority.

It’s better than being somewhere else.

Worship is important.

You have sac’d the time and maybe dropped a significant check in the offering plate.

This is time and money you won’t get back.

It is a sac.

When we give, God commands that it hurt just a little.

He is very generous w/ us, gives us a lot.

Then, only asks for a little bit back.

This is a priority, but not our highest priority.

First, God wants us to believe.

Second, obey.

Third worship.

We are called live faithfully (believe, all in w/ Who Jesus is and What He says He will do) and obey lovingly (do what God assigns us to do in our marriage, family, church, finances, private life, and career because we love God not out of obligation) then worship sacrificially.

IOW: Live Faithfully and obey lovingly then worship sacrificially.

IOW: Don’t try to write a check on Sunday to cover the debt you incur w/ God Monday through Saturday.

It doesn’t work that way.

Sunday matters.

But only after you live faithfully and obediently Monday thru Saturday.

Saul found this out the hard way in .

God’s Assignment

1 Samuel

The Amalekites

Everything and everyone.

Sounds extreme, cruel to us today.

But, this was the culture and their ancestors had made a big mistake and they made God mad.

Historical problem

500 years earlier they made God mad

History.

Their king, Amalek, set an ambush for Israel as they traveled from Egypt toward the PL

Israel was vulnerable.

No trained army.

No great weaponry.

And, all the wealth of Egypt.

The Amalekites saw the opportunity to wipe out Israel, who had just plundered Egypt.

Joshua led Israel into battle while Moses watched from a hilltop.

As long as Moses’ arms remained raised, a posture of worship, Israel gained ground.

When his arms tired, he put them down, the Amalekites gained ground.

So, Aaron and Hur held Moses’ arms up until Israel completely won the battle.

500 years, God remembered and now was the time for Him to exact His revenge.

He sent Saul, on His behalf, to execute the judgment.

Here’s what Saul did.

Saul’s Action

Almost perfect

Everyone, except the king.

And, everything except the best animals.

Partial obedience is still disobedience.

Saul directly and intentionally disobeyed what God assigned him and sent him to do.

Not only did it cause Saul a big problem w/ God, his disobedient actions led to future problem that Esther had to deal w/.

Future problem

Saul left some of Agag’s family alive.

Maybe he knew, maybe he didn’t

600 years in the future, Haman was an Agagite.

Haman was the bad guy in the book of Esther.

He duped the king to sign a law that would lead to Israel’s annihilation.

He put up a pole where he planned to personally impale Mordecai, Esther’s cousin who raised her.

And, passed a law encouraging the ethnic cleansing of all Jews.

All this in retaliation for what Saul did to his ancestors.

God intervened and Haman was impaled on his pole and the Jews turned the tables and killed many Persians that day.

This entire episode could have been avoided, and Esther maybe never would have been written, if Saul had completely obeyed God that day.

These events, over 1000 years, all connected and God was intimately involved.

Just as the Amalekites stirred God’s anger, so did Saul.

His disobedience didn’t cost him his life, but it cost him the throne.

God’s Anger

God regretted making Saul king.

He wasn’t surprised.

This didn’t catch him off guard.

W/in the will of God, He gives us all the freedom to make choices.

We reap the benefits and suffer the consequences.

Why doesn’t God intervene and prevent bad guys from doing bad things to good people.

Sometimes He does.

But, the same freedom you and I value He gives to everyone.

We don’t get to choose who gets to choose.